Maryandra had a pretty interesting week, but it was all dwarfed by her experience on her P-day of going up to see Mount Fuji!  In her own words:

Monday: So, here are three things I want to say before heading out today. One, were are about to head over to Kofu area and see Fuji-San!!!!! Two, we met a new sister in the ward yesterday who served her mission in salt lake, and she thinks she recognized me,many I feel like she looks familiar too. Crazy, right? And three, there is a brother who served his mission at the exact same time as daddy. He says he can't remember him, but we are going to dinner with his family's house tonight, so he will look through his mission pictures. Also, if dad or you could send me some pictures of dad from his mission, that would be helpful. Okay, so I have to go, because we have to leave super early, but I love you! See you next week! Miller Shimai

 

Then we actually got an e-mail about her visit to Mount Fuji, and tons of fun photos. 

 Here are just a few!  And some of her e-mail!

 Fuji is the mountain tip behind Maryandra's head!!!

 

Okay, so I just had the best pday of my entire mission! I can't believe it! Almost our entire district, as well as the other machida sisters, went all the way to MOUNT FUJIIIIII!!!!!!! And we all had the best time of our entire missions! We're gonna be talking about this one for the rest of our lives! Oh my gosh! So, we all woke up between five and six in the morning, left by or before 6:40, and then we gathered at Hachioji station at 7:20 or so. Once we had all gathered, we all went down to the line we were supposed to wait at, to take a three or so hour train ride to our destination. Yeah! One we got on the train, the talking and having fun really got underway. There is never anybody on the trains, so we didn't have anyone to talk to.... EXCEPT EACH OTHERRRR!!!! And boy, was it fun! The elders ran into adjacent cars that were empty, and took pictures of each other doing the craziest things, like hiding in the rafters, and hanging from the handrails and stuff. Haha! That train ride, including perhaps two transfers to new train lines, lasted two or three hours, but it felt like not long at all! So, we took lots of pictures of the beautiful train ride over there, and then once we got there, we all jumped out excitedly, ready to run to Mount Fuji! We then learned that the passes Gappmayer Shimai had kindly obtained for us were basically magic! We could go anywhere! They were all access one day passes! WOOOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah! So, we rode a bus, talking all the

way, up to a bat cave, and even though all the bats were sleeping, we got to walk, stoop, and crawl(yeah, that was a bit hard wearing skirts and dresses) through the stinky wet caves, but we were laughing and having fun the entire time! And while we weren't in the caves, we enjoyed a lovely walk through nature! After that, we rode the bus to a wind cave, again talking and laughing the whole time. And we got to wear white helmets again!

The ice caves were wet and absolutely freezing! We had some fun, though, and did t have to stoop so far for those ones. It was cool to see. Ice caves under Mount Fuji! When we came back up and the warm air and humidity hit us again, it was like trying to breathe in water. Such a weird feeling! But we got some good pictures there as well, which I will send all of as soon as I get them. By the way, I definitely recommend doing this when we come back, maybe even on a Monday, as everyone whose not going home wants to do it again next transfer, haha! Also, we should give the squirrel park a try. I haven't been yet. Anyway, we had some fun there, and then we rode back down to the bottom, and ended up taking an hour long bus ride, half way up Mount Fuji itself! It was incredible! Granted, the air was extremely thin, so everyone felt light headed, but we had a blast, looking around, walking around in the clouds(yes, we were that high up!) and checking out the gift shops. But my favorite part was when we met up with the elders at the lookout point of Mount Fuji, after being temporarily separated, to find Mount Fuji in full view! We'd been told a few times that we wouldn't be able to see it today because of the cloudy and rainy weather, but then elder Crandall told us that he and the other elders had said a quiet prayer, with him as voice, that they would be able to see the mountain, even if only for a few minutes. And he told us that the second he opened his eyes, the mountain was in plain sight! So we hurried and took some group pictures, both from the lookout, and then on the ground where everything was prettier, and we took the perfect group picture. It was one of the most awe-inspiring moments of my life! And get this! No sooner did we finish taking pictures and get our fill than clouds swooped over Mount Fuji again, completely hiding it from view! It took less than thirty seconds for it to just vanish! But our hopes and prayers were answered! It was a miracle!

I wish I could write do every single detail of the entire trip! It was the best pday I've ever had!

 

It was a great experience both individually, and for

us as a group! It was one of the best binding experiences I've ever had on my mission! Yeah!

 

So, I couldn't write down enough to do it any justice, and I've already forgotten a lot of it, unfortunately, and I'm absolutely exhausted, but I will say something that I learned from this experience, and I will quote one of the elders, using a phrase he used as we were walking towards the wind caves: "Dude, Nature's dope!"